LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - Both the SCAC and its schools took some time off for Christmas and New Year's, but the action remained persistent. Schreiner put together a huge weekend, going 3-1 including a SCAC victory over Texas Lutheran. Colorado College as well as Austin College each added two wins over the break.
AROUND THE SCAC
Austin College men's basketball team went 2-2 over the holiday break, falling 94-84 to Elmhurst before rebounding with an 81-61 win over Hendrix before splitting its two games at the Rhodes College Tournament, topping Rhodes 91-86 before falling 90-76 to John Carroll. Ransom Okpala had a big four game stretch, averaging 18.8 points and 7.5 rebounds while shooting 51.6% from the field and 41.2% from three point range, and scored a career-high 29 points against Rhodes. Jeremy Swisher added 25 in the loss to John Carroll, and also scored 17 including 5-of-7 threes against Rhodes.
Centenary snapped a three-game skid on Jan. 4 in a 90-82 victory over Rust College at the Millsaps' New Year's Classic. After starting the season 4-1, the Gents fell to the University of Louisiana, Hendrix and Millsaps before stopping the slide against the Bearcats. Jonathan Blount paced the Maroon and White in scoring averaging 21.8 points. The Shreveport, La., native sits second in the SCAC in scoring with 22.2 points per contest. Freshman Kendall Demochet has provided a spark in his first season. The Lafayette, La., product is second on the team in scoring averaging 11 points on the campaign. Demouchet provided 13 points per game over the last four games and ranked as the top rebounder with 6.5 boards per contest during the span. Caden Cheramie averaged 12.5 points during the last four games which was second on the team. Cheramie sits third on the team in scoring this season with 9.3 points per outing. Centenary travels to Rhodes College on Monday, Jan. 6 before opening SCAC action at the University of Dallas on Friday.
Chris Lesnansky and Ryan Milne combined for all 11 points in the second overtime to lift No. 25 Colorado College to an 82-75 victory at Lehman College on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers overcame a five-point deficit in the first overtime and tied the game at 71-71 when senior forward Daniel Webb knocked down a jumper with 37 seconds to go. Lesnansky paced CC with 25 points and 13 rebounds to record his second double-double of the season and the seventh of his career. The junior forward climbed into the top 25 on the program's all-time rebounding list while bumping his total to 399. Milne poured in a career-high 38 points, but Babson College built a five-point lead late in overtime and hung on for a 93-90 victory on Dec. 30. It marked the third time in his career that Milne has scored more than 30 points in a game. His previous best of 36 occurred during last season's 76-61 victory at Centenary College. The senior guard also dished out four assists to take over sole possession of second place on the school's all-time chart with 379. In Colorado College's SCAC opener, Dallas scored the first 13 points of the game, but the Tigers stormed back to post a 78-66 victory. Milne scored 16 of his game-high 26 points in the first half, when he gave the Tigers their first lead at 27-26 with 3:47 remaining before the break. The Crusaders led 46-44 with 13:09 to go, but CC took control with a 23-6 run that included points from seven different players. Colorado College won its fifth consecutive SCAC opener and prevailed in their first league road contest for the fourth time in five seasons. CC plays at home for the first time since Dec. 4 when Austin and Centenary visit Reid Arena for league games next Friday and Sunday, respectively.
The Dallas men's basketball team (5-5, 0-1 SCAC) went 0-3 over the span of Dec. 16 through Jan. 5. On Dec. 29, the Crusaders were defeated 69-57 by MacMurray College (Ill.) in Jacksonville, Ill. On Dec. 31, head coach Jarred Samples' squad fell 88-70 to Elmhurst College (Ill.) in Elmhurst, Ill. Dallas opened conference-play versus Colorado College on Saturday in Irving, Texas. The navy and white jumped-out to a 9-0 lead, but lost 78-66 to the Tigers. Three home games are on tap this week for Dallas -- Rust College-Miss. (Monday, 7 p.m.); Centenary College of Louisiana (Friday, 6 p.m.); Austin College (Sunday, 2 p.m.).
Schreiner went 3-1 over the break with three straight victories over Pomona-Pitzer (75-67), Baldwin-Wallace (77-74 OT), and Texas Lutheran (80-64) . The victory over Texas Lutheran was Schreiner's first SCAC win in their first SCAC contest. Twelve games into the regular season, Schreiner is being led by Senior AJ Myres, who is third in the SCAC in scoring with a 20.9 ppg average and Junior Stevan Guerrero, who leads the 'Neers with 5.8 rebounds per game average, along with a 16.5 ppg. SU will travel to Southwestern this Friday (December 10th)and to Trinity (Saturday, December 11th).
Southwestern had a rough winter break, going 0-4 to fall to 3-8 on the season. SU closed out their trip to Washington with a 74-59 loss to Whitworth. Southwestern returned home to host Wayland Baptist and played well offensively but fell short 80-65 despite a career high night from Michael Cantu. Just after Christmas, SU headed to San Antonio for a pair of neutral-site games. Baldwin Wallace stayed just out of reach in the second half as the Pirates fell 76-62 while Loras used a buzzer-beater to defeat Southwestern 65-64. SU returns to action on January 10th as the return to SCAC Conference action by hosting Schreiner at 6 p.m. on Friday and Texas Lutheran at 4 p.m. Saturday.
Texas Lutheran endured a tough holiday-break stretch, dropping all four games it played.. The first three of those losses came on the road before ending the stretch with an 80-64 home loss to Schreiner in the SCAC opener. The Bulldogs opened the holiday break with a 75-71 loss to Texas A&M-Kingsville before dropping a pair of games to Dallas Christian and Wayland Baptist in the Pioneer Holiday Classic. The Bulldogs' 103-80 loss to Wayland Baptist was their first double-digit defeat of the year. Against Schreiner, a fellow SCAC newcomer, the Bulldogs were hurt by a cold-shooting second as the Pioneers outscored them by 12 to open up a big advantage. The Bulldogs shot just 32 percent from the field in the second half of that contest.
Trinity went 1-1 at the Trinity Classic over the holiday break, defeating Loras College 61-46, but suffering a narrow 63-68 defeat at the hands of Pomona-Pitzer Colleges. Trinity now stands 6-6 on the season, having won four of the past six contests. The Tigers resume SCAC play this week, facing off against Texas Lutheran and Schreiner at home on Friday and Saturday. The Tigers swept home games against the two teams last season, winning 68-64 over TLU and 62-57 over Schreiner.
To view the entire SCAC Hoops Daily for week six, click here.
